County Government Buildings Get Healthier Options

The 172 vending machines in 17 Shelby County government buildings are getting new snacks under a “Healthy Shelby” awareness plan carried out by Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell.

Luttrell ordered that half of the food in the machines to have no more than 35 percent of the calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of calories from saturated fats. The food meeting those standards in the machines will have stickers reading “Fit Pick.”

The “Fit Pick” brand uses criteria based on dietary recommendations of the American Heart Association.

– Bill Dries

Memphis Attorney Joins World Cataract Foundation

Attorney Richard Myers, partner and former managing partner of the Apperson Crump PLC law firm, has been elected to the board of the World Cataract Foundation.

Memphis-based WCF was formed in 1978 by a Memphis ophthalmologist, Dr. Jerre Freeman, to answer the challenge to create an inexpensive, high-quality intraocular lens to cure cataract blindness.

Myers, a California native, joined Apperson Crump, Memphis’ oldest, continuously operating law firm, in 1997 and has been a partner since 2002.

– Andy Meek

DMC to Honor Vision Award Recipients

Downtown Memphis Commission will present this year’s Downtown Vision Awards on Thursday, Sept. 27, at an open house party at its office, 114 N. Main St., from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.

The awards honor those individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions toward the advancement of Downtown Memphis. Recipients are selected by the chairs of the DMC and its affiliated boards.

This year’s recipients are Jason Wexler, president of Henry Turley Co. for Individual Achievement; University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law for Organization Achievement; Robert McGowan and Annie Mahaffey, “founders” of South Main Historic District for Visionary Awards; and Memphis history “storyteller” Jimmy Ogle for Special Merit Award.

Entertainment at the event will include Preston Shannon, Valeria’s Wings, Beale Street Flippers, Misti Rae Warren, Tiger High and more.

– Sarah Baker

Wharton Calls in TBI to Review Police Shooting

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. has called in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate the shooting Monday, Sept. 25, by an off-duty Memphis police officer of 15-year old Justin Thompson in Wooddale. Thompson died from his wounds.

The outside investigation is unusual. Shootings or any firing of a service weapon by a police officer, off duty or on duty, are usually investigated within the Memphis Police Department.

Wharton’s announcement Tuesday also signaled what he said will be a wider review of police procedures including those in which police withhold releasing some details citing an ongoing investigation.

The officer, who is suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, still had not been identified by Memphis Police late Wednesday morning. The TBI’s first public act in investigating the case was to release the name, patrol officer Terrance Shaw.

Wharton said information about the shooting near Winchester Road and South Perkins Road that he couldn’t release because of city and police policies prompted him to call for the outside investigation by the state agency.

With Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong standing next to him, Wharton also questioned whether city procedures to screen police department applicants as well as those who want to work in other city departments are adequate. Wharton said he will soon assemble a group to review those procedures as well.

– Bill Dries

Fewer CEOs Planning to Expand, Hire

A survey of U.S. chief executives shows a sharp drop in the number of large companies that plan to add jobs or hire more workers.

The Business Roundtable said Wednesday that only 29 percent of its member CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months.

That’s down from 36 percent in June, when the group last released its quarterly survey. It’s also much lower than the 52 percent of CEOs in early 2011 who said they planned to boost hiring, the highest percentage since the survey began in 2002.

Only 30 percent of CEOs expect to increase their investment in capital goods such as machinery, computers or other equipment.

Companies usually buy such goods when they are expanding. That’s down sharply from 43 percent three months ago.

Large-company CEOs are more pessimistic about their future sales and the overall U.S. economy, the survey found. While 58 percent expect their sales to increase over the next six months, that’s down from 75 percent in the June report. And the CEOs forecast the economy will expand just 1.9 percent this year, below their 2.1 percent forecast three months earlier.